The Countess of Warwick’s Show

Our annual ploughing match attracted more competitors this year in all classes. The ground was hard below but the top had been softened by rain in the week before the show. 12 competed in the trailed class and 18 in the mounted. Trailed ploughs are pulled along on wheels and need a wider turning circle at the end of each row or ‘headland’, Mounted ploughs, as their name suggests, sit on the back of the tractor and can be raised off the ground to turn or to be transported along the road.

The standard was high, as always, giving the judges a difficult task deciding the winners. Derek Hockley, Martin Shelley (Billericay Farm Fuels) Hugh and Bill Wiseman, Clive Menhenick and John Smith judged the classes and spent some time deliberating, before choosing Eric Smith (Rochford)and Francis Pring (Bocking) as winners. Eric won the overall ploughing award.

The Novice ploughing match is open to all and is an excellent opportunity to either learn and improve, supervised by some of the most experienced ploughmen in the south of England. 8 entered this year, including 2 girls and they were all most grateful for the tuition provided. The winner was John Jennings (High Wych ) with Kate Tinsley (Bocking) second.

A good entry of 21 tractors in the ‘Best Restored’ class included rarities such as The 2 Minneapolis Molines, (Melanie and Terry Martin, Felsted) the Lanz Bulldog (Alan Dines and Bert Gatfield, Stebbing) the Case D (Paul Ewers, High Garrett) and the eventual winner, Roger and Margaret Board’s International 414.(Little Easton) The judge was Andrew Streeter from Little Hallingbury, who arrived appropriately in his own Marshall tractor.

12 Stationary Engines were shown, including Terry Martin’s 4″ scale Case traction engine (Braintree) which emerged from the compound to chug around the showground, much to the pleasure of the crowd! The winner was Mike Barnard with his Deutz Otto and generator (Great Dunmow)

TROPHIES AND WINNERS 2009

Overall winner Eric Smith
Straightest furrow John Jennings

Mounted
1st. Francis Pring
2nd. Robert Loe
3rd. James Clarke
HC Chris Murrells

Trailed
1st. Eric Smith
2nd. Colin Fenner
3rd. Angus Montgomerie
HC John Webb

Novice
1st. John Jennings
2nd. Kate Tinsley (c/o Francis Pring)
3rd. Lee Chapman

Best Restored Tractor
1st. Roger and Margaret Board
2nd. Bert Gatfield and Alan Dines
3rd.
HC

Best Restored Stationary Engine
1st. Mike Barnard
2nd. Trevor Salter
3rd. Rob Hardie
HC Michelle Meadows

The Countess of Warwick’s Country show, sponsored by P & A Wood, is one of our favourite events of the year. It gives us the opportunity to let members of the general public admire the cars that we are very proud to be able to display. We took five cars for static display this year, as follows:

Rolls-Royce Phantom 2009
Rolls-Royce Phantom VI 1986
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III 1964
Bentley R-Type Continental 1955
Bentley 4 ½ Litre 1928

We also took two Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts, a 1914 Open Tourer and 1923 Springfield Pall Mall Tourer, to give rides. From this we raised £505 for the Five Parishes and would like to thank all of those who gave their money for a ride in one of these spectacular cars, we hope you enjoyed it.

We were also able to arrange this year to have a Merlin engine at the show, owned by Mr David Corbett who kindly gave up his time to come to the show and run the engine for us, it proved to be very popular and we thank David for this opportunity.

Entering into the spirit of things, P & A Wood also put a team in for the tractor challenge this year, which included removing the wheel of a tractor, rolling it up the arena through some cones, replacing it on the tractor and then driving the tractor through the cones to the finish line. Lee Kenworthy, one of our pre-war mechanical team, and his brother Grant took up the challenge. Unfortunately, they were not victorious! Although all was not lost as the winning team (The Walk to Canter Team) included a member of the Coachwork department, Ian Fidderman, and Paul’s son in law Ben. However, I don’t think that the mechanical department will ever live it down – we could be in for a re-match next year!

“Probably the best local show I have been to. I entered the
novice ploughing match. I have never ploughed before and the advice
and help afforded to me were gracefully given and gratefully accepted.
Thanks to Tim Turner and in particular to Jim Clarke.”

Tim Farrow

“Thank you very much for allowing Clarks Farm Greyhound
Rescue to participate in the 2009 Countess of Warwick Show.

Hopefully we can rebook for next year and go on spreading our
message.”

Steve Cobb

“Hi Georgina,
Just wanted to say thanks to you and your team for your hard work in organising such a great show, we had a great weekend and would definitely want to do it again.
Thanks again”

Sue N-Gray-V signs

“Dear Georgina,
Just a quick note of thanks for facilitating my participation this year. I look forward to being invited back in 2010.”

John
Strix Editions-Wildlife Art Specialists
PS Enjoyed looking at the selection of cars that you had on display particularly the 09 silver Phantom!!!

“Dear Georgina,
Many thanks for including me in the show again this year. It was a very good show and I was delighted at the number of people who came and had a bag! I did find time to pop out and see the cars which were fantastic. It did seem to be better attended than last year unless that is my imagination!
Many thanks again, hope to see you next year.”

Penny Dudley

“Thanks to the organisers and the generous visitors for a
wonderful two days. We raised an amazing £520 for our Labrador Rescue
fund.

Thank you and we do hope to see you next year.”

Pat Russell
Labrador Rescue Stall